It has been surprisingly discovered that the expression of a protein complex (e.g. an aggregate, a complex) termed “MSDX Complex-1” is elevated in multiple sclerosis patients as compared to healthy controls. MSDX Complex-1 is a high molecule weight complex comprising fibrinogen, fibronectin, and fibulin-1. MSDX Complex-1 alone or in combination with other markers may be useful as an indicator of multiple sclerosis or other diseases or conditions, for example for an inflammatory condition, a neurodegenerative disease or condition, cancer, stroke, or other diseases. MSDx complex-1 alone or in combination with one or more other biomarkers may help monitor disease activity (e.g., relapse, remission, etc.). Monitoring disease activity may be useful for detecting a response (e.g., positive response, negative response, lack of response) to a therapy, for detecting patient compliance with a therapy, or for providing useful clinical information for disease management.
The present invention features methods for measuring high molecular weight complexes of fibrinogen with fibronectin and fibulin-1 (“MSDx Complex-1”) and applications thereof. The methods may be used to monitor disease activity and therapeutic efficacy in diseases or conditions that have an inflammatory component, for example autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned diseases and conditions or the aforementioned applications.